Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1887-12-24
ANNAPOLIS ND SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER "a, 1887.
RIFLES OF THE FUTURE.
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ALL ENGAGED
IN REDUCING THE CALDER.

Lcbel-Austria's New Repeater-other
Well Known Systems.
Two features in infantry rifles arc now
absorbing attention in all parts of the
world, the caliber and the repeating
apparatus. France. Germany, Austria,
England, Holland and Italy are oil en-
gagged in reducing the caliber and here in
our own country Gen. Benet says, in re-
cent report, that "the question OF re-
duced caliber for small arms is now under
consideration by the Departmental
statement which speaks volumes. With
smaller caliber are joined a steel cased
bullet and compressed powder, or
else far more powerful powder, which
gives greater range and penetration,
while many additional cartridges of the
the smaller size can obviously be carried
by the soldier. This last advantage is the
more important, since the tendency to
fire too rapidly is increased by the repeat
ing arms.
Germany, in order to supply her army
with magazine guns ahead of France,
kept her factories at Erfurth, Spandau
and DantZic working day and night; and
now that she has completed the armingof
her troops at large cost, she is to begin oil
over again with a new small bore rifle,
because the French have small bore
The present German repeating arm, which
may do for the reserve and militia, is the
Mauser of sixteen years ago, refurnished
with a magazine of eight cartridges,
pushed by spring into the barrel Col.
Arbuthnot, superintendent OF the Enfield
factory, considers it the worst repeater he
has seen. 1t is certainly both heavy and
i'll balanced, although it has the advan-
70 hat Cd III
to single loader, and it requires no new
manual of drill. But it is doomed before
it has been really used, because better
gun is found in France. The caliber OF
the new German rifle is to be eight milli-
meters, which is only .315 inch, while
that of the Mauser is eleven millimeters,
or .432 inch.
THE LEBEL RIFLE.
The Lebel rifle, adopted by France, is
of only 1907 inch caliber, and carries
eight cartridges in q magazine under the
barrel. Its sharp pointed steel bullet,
about the size of pea, driven at won
derful velocity by new smokeless pow
der, has great range and accuracy. The
soldier can carry nearly twice as many OF
its small "1rtridges as of the old style.
The trajectory is almost fiat for ranges
customary, with consequent gain IN
precision; the recoil is scarcely percepti-
bic, and even the noise of the report Is
trifling. The French Pralon rifle is an
other remarkable small bore, of $40
caliber.
i Italy has small caliber rifle under con-
sideration in theinventiqn of Capt. Freddi.
! 1t is of 1926 inch bore, and elects the empty
cartridge, opens the chamber and cocks
the piece. The Pieri is of about the same
bore, but of n greater muzzle velocity,
this gun and the Lebel and the Hebler
being the most remarkable Of the recent
| inventions in that respect The Hebler
is very light, and is of only .296 inch
caliber.
The Schulhof repeater, the invention Of
an Austrian. has been tried with much
thoroughness in England. 1t takes ten
cartridges, introduced from a cardboard
box, and can also be used as a single
loader. 1t would cost less than the Eng
lsh Martini Henry. But England, out OF
the large number of magazine guns open
10 her, is trying by preference the i'm
proved Lee and the Lee-Burton. The
Lee, so favorably known in the United
States, has a detachable magazine, and
this is preferred by some experts; but the
British apparently decide in favor OF hay
ing the hopper fixed, lest the movable one
| They follow the movement for small
calibers by fixing on 81 bore, whatever
the selection of the magazine rifle system
The large charge of compressed powder
and long bullet will secure high velocity,
fiat trajectory and accuracy Of shooting.
Great Britain has had an experience some-
thing like Germany's, since she had just
introduced the new Enfield Martini .4O
caliber as an improvement on her Martini
Henry. which has 45 bore, like our
Springfield. Over 100, 900 have been COM
| pleted, with new sword bayonets, but the
small caliber will supersede them.
AUsTRIA's REPEATER
Austrias new repeater, the Mannlicher,
fires accurately and rapidly, and can ID
held at the shoulder until its series Of
cartridges are delivered. Its detachable
magazine is carried in u frabac which has
an ingenious apparatus for feeding the
cartridges into the barrel. In its freedom
from alteration of aim between shots aud
rapidity of loading it resembles the Lee,
hut the latter can be used as single
loader. while the MannliElfer cannot.
Austria is also among the recent converts
to the small caliber, which will allow
more cartridges than the original Mann
licher. The Styria Tnanufactory has re-
ceived orders 10 deliver no more Of the
large caliber rifles.
Other well known systems are the
Hotchkiss, Chaffec Reece. Winchester,
Colt and Spencer of American invention,
wish the Kropatschek, Vetterli, Jarmann
and others in Europe. Switzerland was
the first country to fully arm her troops
with rcpeaters, adopting the Vetterli,
which is the heaviest Of all the magazine
guns, weighing ten pounds eight ounces,
or even six ounces more than the Mauser.
1t cal;bcr il 4I4 The JarInann is the
repeater of Norway and Sweden, and is OF
about the weight Of the Mauser; with
high nuzzlc velocity, and the smallest